1964 Studebaker Champ Pickup

The Champ line of trucks began in 1960 and ended with the 1964 version. Studebaker lacked funds to really do a major
upgrade on the truck in 1960 so it had to be designed using whatever was available and that mostly was the Studebaker Lark
components. The Champ was made from using the Lark's body, with the back end cut off, and placed on a truck chassis.

The inside of the cab very much looked like the Lark. On the outside, the bars in the grill ran horizontal and the bumper
was definitely heavier than that of the Lark.

Financially, the company had lost nearly $80 million in 1963 which included $64 million that was used to close down the
various Studebaker facilities in the US. Except in 1959, the automotive division had lost money ever since being acquired
by Packard.

Gordon Grundy had taken over the leadership of the automotive division and announced that Studebaker would be
putting in $30 million to expand its Hamilton, Ontario so that 30,000 units more could be produced. Grundy believed that
the Hamilton plant could handle Studebaker's auto building requirements.